BACKGROUND Esophageal carcinoma is a malignant gastrointestinal tumor with a very poor prognosis. MicroRNA (miR)-1304 is a newly discovered non-coding RNA, which shows differential expression in other cancers, and its clinical value in esophageal carcinoma remains unclear. AIM To explore the expression of miR-1304 in patients with esophageal carcinoma and its clinical value. METHODS The expression of miR-1304 in patients with esophageal carcinoma was analyzed based on the data on miR in esophageal carcinoma downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was adopted to determine the expression of miR-1304 in the tissues and serum of patients. The clinical diagnostic value of miR-1304 and independent factors for recurrence and prognosis of esophageal carcinoma were then analyzed. The potential target genes of miR-1304 were predicted, and then analyzed based on gene ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes, and Genomes, and protein-protein interaction. RESULTS The a P less then 0.05, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes, and Genomes analysis found 11 signal pathways with a P less then 0.05. String analysis of protein co-expression found 269 relationship pairs, of which co-expression with epidermal growth factor was the most common. CONCLUSION miR-1304 can be used as a potential indicator for the diagnosis and recurrence of esophageal carcinoma and for survival of patients with this disease. ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.BACKGROUND The treatment outcome of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) varies greatly due to the clinical heterogeneity of the patients. Therefore, several prognostic systems have been proposed for risk stratification and candidate identification for first TACE and repeated TACE (re-TACE). AIM To investigate the correlations between prognostic systems and radiological response, compare the predictive abilities, and integrate them in sequence for outcome prediction. METHODS This nationwide multicenter retrospective cohort consisted of 1107 unresectable HCC patients in 15 Chinese tertiary hospitals from January 2010 to May 2016. The Hepatoma Arterial-embolization Prognostic (HAP) score system and its modified versions (mHAP, mHAP2 and mHAP3), as well as the six-and-twelve criteria were compared in terms of their correlations with radiological response and overall survival (OS) prediction for first TACE. The same analyses were conducted in 912 patients receivingle for TACE with an improved median PRTS of 36.6 mo, compared with non-candidates with a median PRTS of 20.0 mo (log-rank test P less then 0.001). CONCLUSION Radiological response to TACE is closely associated with tumor burden, but superior prognostic prediction could be achieved with the combination of mHAP3 and ABCR in patients with unresectable liver-confined HCC. ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.BACKGROUND Reports on bacterial infection (BI) in decompensated cirrhosis (DC) is mainly from alcoholic cirrhosis. The role of BI as a trigger or complication of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) in patients with hepatitis B virus decompensated cirrhosis (HBV-DC) remains to be investigated. AIM To investigate the impact of BI on the outcomes of the patients with HBV-DC admitted into the hospital with or without ACLF. METHODS This retrospective study included patients with HBV-DC admitted to two tertiary centers in China. In-hospital overall survival, 90-d transplant-free survival, 5-year post-discharge survival, and cumulative incidence of ACLF were evaluated. Risk factors for death were analyzed considering liver transplantation as a competing event. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/art0380.html RESULTS A total of 1281 hospitalized HBV-DC patients were included; 284 had ACLF at admission. The overall prevalence of BI was 28.1%. The patients with BI had a significantly lower in-hospital survival and transplant-free 90-d survival than those without, in both the patients admitted with and without ACLF. The presence of BI significantly increased the risk of developing ACLF [sub-distribution hazard ratio (sHR) = 2.52, 95%CI 1.75-3.61, P less then 0.001] in the patients without ACLF. In the patients discharged alive, those who had an episode of BI had a significantly lower 5-year transplant-free survival. BI was an independent risk factor for death in the patients admitted without ACLF (sHR = 3.28, 95%CI 1.93-5.57), while in ACLF admissions, the presence of pneumonia, but not other type of BI, independently increased the risk of death (sHR = 1.87, 95%CI 1.24-2.82). CONCLUSION BI triggers ACLF in patients with HBV-DC and significantly impairs short-term survival. HBV-DC patients should be monitored carefully for the development of BI, especially pneumonia, to avoid an adverse outcome. ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. AIM To explore the expression of microRNA miR-19a-3p and Forkhead box F2 (FOXF2) in patients with CRC and the relevant mechanisms. METHODS Sixty-two CRC patients admitted to the hospital were enrolled into the study group, and sixty healthy people from the same period were assigned to the control group. Elbow venous blood was sampled from the patients and healthy individuals, and blood serum was saved for later analysis. MiR-19a-3p mimics, miR-19a-3p inhibitor, miR-negative control, small interfering-FOXF2, and short hairpin-FOXF2 were transfected into HT29 and HCT116 cells. Then quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to quantify the expression of miR-19a-3p and FOXF2 in HT29 and HCT116 cells, and western blot (WB) analysis was conducted to evaluate the levels of FOXF2, glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK-3β), phosphorylated GSK-3β (p-GSK-3β), β-catenin, p-β-catenin, α-catenin, N-cadherin, E-cadherin, and vimen miR-19a-3p with FOXF2. In addition, a rescue experiment revealed that there were no differences in cell proliferation, invasion, and migration in HT29 and HCT116 cells co-transfected with miR-19a-3p-mimics+sh-FOXF2 and miR-19a-3p-inhibitor+si-FOXF2 compared to the miR-negative control group. CONCLUSION Inhibiting miR-19a-3p expression can upregulate the FOXF2-mediated Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, thereby affecting the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, proliferation, invasion, and migration of cells. Thus, miR-19a-3p is likely to be a therapeutic target in CRC. ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.